Knavery

I liked it. The guy was stiff and like you said - a lot of flaws but the drama has a charm to it and it works.

Japanese shows are a tough sell for me. Too many ridiculous back-stories combined with bland/meandering plots (probably a symptom of manga/anime based stories).

I thought this was good. The characters were explained and defined really well and I thought the show occasionally tried to get us to think about certain themes/problems.
The mystery and ending were well done but personally I found it a bit telegraphed.

This is pretty good. I think they're doing a decent job mimicking each other.

The 3 youngest members who I rate the lowest are obviously all new to acting so hopefully they improve and surround themselves with people so they can improve.

But a good story could have really helped them. It's not there. I don't know what manhwa is but this story just drags

The problems start with a lack of direction in the show. I'm not sure what the writers and directors are going for... it's just not working and it's not good.

So now we have to look at the cast and can this cast support it?
Krystal - she has the easiest role that doesn't require good acting.
Gong Myung - awful. He has to play a much harder role though.
Im Joo Hwan - he's much older and the experience shows. The strongest of the main cast members.
Nam Joo Hyuk - overrated. Not convincing. One dimensional in his career so far.
Shin Se Kyung - I think she's alright. Her face always seems to be puffy which makes it hard to read her facial expressions but I would put her down as the 2nd strongest main cast member.

For me right now this is below average/poor but not awful. I'll see it through just because I almost always finish things.

Dec 31 2017 was a placeholder and Dec 31 2018 is the new placeholder.

The thing here is China has a 'Korean Entertainment Ban' going on since last year. Actors fall under entertainment. China won't approve any TV show with a South Korean actor/actress.

So we have to wait for the ban to be lifted and then there are questions like: will season 2 still happen? How much was filmed before this ban? None, some, most or all of it? Will the cast come back for the show or have some moved on?

That's why you see the move from 2017 to 2018 in the air date on here. Because it is unlikely this will be on TV before the end of 2017. It is possible we never see season 2.

After a few episodes it's starting to get repetitive. It's a shame.

The problem is the book continues so we know where things are supposed to go. It feels like production wants to see if they can milk a second season for more money or they're terrible at planning the story arc. Neither one is a good thing.

If this was the ending and there was no book there might be a lot of complaining about how it ended but I wouldn't agree with it all. But that's not the case. The book continues with more content they're not covering. The cast likely won't all be back. Terrible.

I liked the concept but the execution wasn't the greatest.

Kind of more lighthearted and about an adventure. Not the deepest drama but I liked the charm of the main characters and I felt the main characters ended up with what they deserved (not referencing villains just the 3 main characters).

I would say it's a mix like silvermcv says. There is action scenes, there is 'political intrigue' scenes and then there is some romance.

Thanks. I guess I'll have to go back and re-watch. I haven't been keeping as up to date with everything.

Can someone explain the significance of the bird the Princess of Liang sees in Episode 48, TV episode 53? Or has that not been explained yet?

I agree with you Grn. ZLY is a good actress but she's not great. I think where she (and her management team) are really good is in picking projects and that's why I'm willing to give anything with her name in it a chance.

My only criticism of her is her face is a bit stiff (especially the cheeks/lower half of her face) but maybe that's just how she is and it can't be changed... not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. The overall cast in this show isn't very strong anyways so it's not like she's constantly conversing with actors blowing her out of the water. They're average like she is and that's fine. They're convincing enough.

He didn't order it but he didn't exactly tell them to send the two royals home alive or in one piece or healthy. He has also personally led them on brutal rampages through a city and some villages. He likely had a good idea what was going to happen and instead of picking good men and ordering them not to do anything - he sends random men, the princess and prince both get scarred forever. And these are two people who both stuck their necks out for him multiple times. And that's how he repays them? I don't see any appeal. He's a brutal warlord who's even worse than the king of Wei. At least the king of Wei has people around who stop him from a lot of his madness.

Forgettable drama. It's not bad and you should give it a try if you're considering but I doubt this is one you're going to remember a year from now.

I think it's less of a parody than Go Princess Go was. She seems to get stuck in a body. But it would also seem the owner of that body still inhabits it as well. Not as ridiculous as Go Princess Go but not as serious as Bu Bu Jin Xin. Somewhere in the middle which is just fine. You get funny moments but nothing quite as over the top as Go Princess Go.

The cast all put in good performances but for large portions of the drama it's still not enough to overcome sloppy writing, character development and the story.

Kind of ended with a whimper after a decent start and a declining middle.